1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for creating an image that is perceived by a user as a three-dimensional presentation (hereinafter, referred to as “stereoscopic image”) from an image that is perceived as flat (hereinafter, referred to as “original image”).
2. Description of Related Art
When a user views one of two images having parallax with his left eye and views the other with his right eye, it is possible for him to perceive that image as a three-dimensional presentation. Technologies for creating stereoscopic images having parallax from flat original images have been proposed in the past (for example, see JP 2002-123842A, paragraph 0034, FIG. 5). The function of creating stereoscopic images has been made available to users in the form of a program that is run on a computer (hereinafter, referred to as “stereoscopic presentation program”).
However, this type of stereoscopic presentation program could conceivably be provided to users in a form stored on a various types of storage media along with original images that are to be converted into stereoscopic images (for example, moving images such as video and still images such as images of scenery). A user that has obtained this storage medium could not only view the original image as a flat image but also as a stereoscopic image obtained by executing the stereoscopic presentation program. Furthermore, from the perspective of the supplier of such storage mediums, it would be possible to distinguish that media from other storage media that store original images only, and thus this would give the supplier an additional avenue through which to promote sales of the storage media.
However, in the above situation there is the risk that the effort by the supplier to make their product unique may be undermined unless the original images to be processed by the stereoscopic presentation program can be restricted to specific original images. This is because if a user can obtain a stereoscopic presentation program once and subsequently obtain storage media storing only original images without having to specifically obtain storage media to which a stereoscopic presentation program has been added, he could use the stereoscopic presentation program that was obtained previously to convert those original images into stereoscopic images for viewing.